This morning Brooklyn and I hosted a playgroup! There are two other babies in my husband's new squadron, and coincidentally they are both exactly the same age as Brooklyn. This was her first time playing with other babies - all of my friends' kids are at least 18 months older than she is, so she's always "the baby" of the group.
I was surprised, once I had the opportunity to compare, at how busy Brooklyn is for her age! She was up and down and over here and over there and she would crawl and climb on the other babies and take their toys away! I felt like I couldn't step away because I was worried my baby would hurt another baby - a feeling I never expected to feel.
I decided to quit my job when I had Brooklyn and not return to the workforce because I was worried about putting her in daycare (and mind you, I was a manager at a daycare and she would have been at my facility). I was worried that she would get picked on by other babies. I was concerned that a stranger would not give my baby the love and affection that she deserves on a daily basis. At any given moment I could just scoop Brooklyn up and smooch her and give her a giant hug and let her know she is loved.
I didn't want to put her in a situation where she wouldn't learn to trust that someone would always be there if she ever needed anything.
And I had trust issues myself. I am the only person in the whole world who can pick up on Brooklyn's cues - her sleepy cues, her hungry cues, her "I need a hug" cues.
Besides the psychological aspect of daycare, or letting her be in someone else's care in any form, there are obviously the physical concerns. I was terrified that she'd fall and bump her head because her caregiver wasn't there to protect her when she was learning to pull up and balance. I was afraid another baby would cause physical harm as well (think of unsupervised "eye poking").
After this playgroup, it turns out #1. babies are resilient and #2. my baby is a tough cookie!
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